Part 2: Fact Sheet
Importance of the health issue for the legislation agenda
The opioid crisis affects individuals of all ages, gender, and races. Nonetheless, the crisis significantly affects many older adults, which emanates from their high dependence on opioids to cope with extremely painful chronic illnesses.
The effects of the opioid crisis
Long term opioids’ use might lead to euphoria, drowsiness, and respiratory complications (Nagappa et al., 2017). There is also the risk of developing opioid use disorder with symptoms of withdrawal in severe cases. In this case, individuals may lose the ability to reduce or control their addiction, use, and the inability to perform work and educational tasks. They may also lose the ability to perform basic everyday activities, being tolerant, or exhibit social and interpersonal problems.
Rates of mortality and morbidity
The epidemic claims more than 30,000 people every year in the United States. The number of deaths and cases of disability has also witnessed a gradual surge over the years (Vadivelu et al., 2018).
Economic effects
Opioid use disorder management has proven to be expensive for households, individuals, and the federal government.
The role of the nurse in the agenda-setting of the opioid crisis
First, nurses can have a crucial role in the early recognition and aversion of the abuse and misuse of opioids (Adler & Mallick-Searle, 2018). Most times, nurses are the first to be in contact with patients and also spend the majority of the time with them. Nurses also have a duty in the monitoring of the patient’s prescription since they are in a position to pinpoint patients that are gradually becoming addicted to the substances through prescription monitoring. Nurses can also act as advocates by calling for the implementation of suitable strategies and policies for the management of pain. They can also come up with new measures on how opioid prescriptions could be written. Further, nurses are in a position to suggest protocols for the treatment of opioid addiction for the released convicts.
References
Adler, J. A., & Mallick-Searle, T. (2018). An overview of abuse-deterrent opioids and recommendations for practical patient care. Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 11, 323.
Nagappa, M., Weingarten, T. N., Montandon, G., Sprung, J., & Chung, F. (2017). Opioids, respiratory depression, and sleep-disordered breathing. Best Practice & Research Clinical Anaesthesiology, 31(4), 469-485.
Vadivelu, N., Kai, A. M., Kodumudi, V., Sramcik, J., & Kaye, A. D. (2018). The opioid crisis: a comprehensive overview. Current pain and headache reports, 22(3), 16.